Lady Elks come up short against Legacy

For the second consecutive night, a poor third-quarter showing cost Burleson’s girls basketball team an opportunity to register its first District 5-5A victory.

After scoring 23 second-quarter points to close to within 33-31 of Mansfield Legacy at halftime, the Lady Elks let all that good work go to waste by scoring 10 points in the third quarter as they went on to fall to the Lady Broncos, 62-59, at home.

The loss dropped the Lady Elks to 0-3 in district play.

“I thought we gave them too many second and third chances on offense,” Burleson coach Curtis Enis said. “We are a better rebounding team than that. I liked our transition offense and press break offense, I thought that was key to us being in the game.”

A big problem for the Lady Elks was turnovers especially in the first and third quarters. Legacy (2-1 in district) outscored Bulreson 21-9 in the first quarter and took a 52-41 lead into the fourth quarter after outscoring the Lady Elks, 19-10, in the third quarter.

The Lady Elks offense caught fire in the second quarter thanks to seven points from Madison McCall. Caitlyn Kirkham and Trinitee Johnson added six points in the quarter as Burleson went on a 22-12 run to close to within two points of Legacy at halftime.

McCall and Kirkham finished with 16 points each and Johnson tallied 12 points.

Legacy’s Harmoni Turner proved to be a thorn in the Lady Elks side. Turner was unstoppable at times Tuesday night as she scored a game-high 30 points. Just when it seemed Burleson had momentum on its side, Turner hit a shot. Keslyn King finished with 16 points for the Lady Broncos.

Turner scored eight of Legacy’s 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Lady Broncos survive a 18-10 run by the Lady Elks.

The Lady Elks close out district play in 2018 at Mansfield Timberview Friday.